Two nationally recognized literacy advocates — one an NFL athlete, the other an Emmy-nominated actor — share their journeys from illiteracy to impact. In Built Like Champions; Betrayed by Schools, the latest episode of the Literacy Now – Together podcast, hosts Kareem Weaver and Brett Tingley sit down with Ameer Baraka and Deon Butler for a hard-hitting discussion. The message is simple: talent isn’t enough. Every child deserves the tools to read, because freedom begins with literacy.
Deon Butler, once a Central Michigan standout who earned an ESPY nomination for “Play of the Year,” graduated high school and college without being able to read. Undiagnosed dyslexia followed him into the NFL, where he could not read the Detroit Lions’ playbook.
“Undiagnosed dyslexia cost me my dream,” he later shared with The Detroit News. Today, Butler is one of Michigan’s most visible advocates for literacy legislation. He credits University of Michigan Head Coach Sherrone Moore, his former position coach at Central Michigan, for believing in him when few others did. “Coach Moore saw me, not my limitations,” Butler recalls. “We need more teachers and coaches like that.”
